Belgian Qualifying Round 13

Nico Rosberg qualifies on pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as Lewis Hamilton will start at the back of the grid for tomorrows race.

27/08/16

Grid penalties galore!

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will start on the back row due to the ridiculous amount of grid penalties given to them. Hamilton incurred a whopping grid penalty of 55 places while Alonso has been given a grid penalty of 35 places. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson has also been given a penalty of 10 places after a power unit change. Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez has been given a 5 place grid penalty for impeding Pascal Wehrlein in FP3 and also has been given 3 points on his super license.

Q1

Romain Grosjean is out first and sets a lap time of a 1:49:519. Nico Rosberg is next and goes quicker on a 1:48:019. The stewards have just deleted Felipe Nasr’s time after he went wide at turn 4, which is Eau Rouge. Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel are next on a 1:47:912 and a 1:47:802. Kevin Magnussen also has his time deleted for running wide at turn 4. With 5 minutes and 20 seconds to go in the session, Fernando Alonso comes to a halt at the top of Eau Rouge. He pulls over and gets out of his car.

With 2 minutes to go, drivers in danger of getting knocked-out, make their way onto the track for their final runs in the session. Jolyon Palmer is the first to cross the finish line and its good enough for 11th before Kevin Magnussen replaces Palmer in 11th. Marcus Ericsson is next and goes 15th but Esteban Ocon moves ahead of the Swede into 15th place. Pascal Wehrlein is next and goes 8th while Felipe Nasr and Daniil Kvyat go 14th and 17th. Felipe Massa goes quickest and out of the drop zone and so does Jenson Button and Carlos Sainz going 11th and 15th. Massa is quickest on a 1:47:738 ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen.

Q2

Pascal Wehrlein is out first but comes back into the pits due to vibrations in his front right wheel. Nico Rosberg lays down an amazing lap time of a 1:46:999. Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel fail to match Rosberg but Max Verstappen gets the closet on a 1:47:163 on the Supersoft tyres. Going into the final minutes Vettel and Ricciardo languish near the drop zone and might have to go out for another timed lap.

With 1 minute to go, the drivers start their final flying laps with Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer lie in the drop zone. Button comes round on a 1:48:o51 to put himself 10th but what can the others do? Palmer, Gutierrez, Grosjean, Wehrlein, Magnussen and Sainz fail to beat Button’s time are out of Q2. Nico Rosberg is quickest ahead of Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg.

Q3

Valterri Bottas is out first and sets a lap time of a 1:47:612. Sebastian Vettel comes across the line and puts in a lap time of a 1:47:296. Nico Rosberg then comes across the line and goes on pole for now on a 1:46:744.

The drivers are starting their final laps with Jenson Button going into 8th place and splits both Williams cars. Max Verstappen doesn’t improve and will line up 2nd behind Rosberg on pole. Kimi Raikkonen comes round and sets a lap time of a 1:46:910 beating team-mate Sebastian Vettel to 3rd place.